A privacy expert who resigned this week from her role as an advisor to Sidewalk Labs, the Google sister company set to build a "smart" neighbourhood on Toronto's waterfront, is concerned that the "treasure trove" of data collected there will be vulnerable to attacks.

The departure of Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's former privacy commissioner and current Ryerson University fellow, is just the latest blow to the ambitious, data-driven project.​

Cavoukian said Sunday she chose to resign after a Thursday meeting between Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront TO, the organization responsible for revitalizing the city's lakeshore.

It was there that Sidewalk Labs revealed that, while it has committed to stripping all of the data it collects of personal identifiers, it could not guarantee that other groups participating in the project would do the same.

"When I heard that, I knew I had to resign," Cavoukian said in an interview on CBC News Network.